Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Deborah Millier <deborahmillier AT yahoo.com>]

I had written:

>> Me-thinks that if you call to mind the action of
>> gliding-type undulation you will see that the
>> parallelism fits just fine--even employing the
>> standard understanding of ALMAH.

To which D. Washburn replied:

> Perhaps I'm a little slow, but I 
> don't see the need for such an 
> explicit parallelism in this passage.  
> ISTM that the writer is simply 
> describing some things he doesn't 
> understand, as the previous verse 
> says.  How does an eagle soar?  How 
> does a snake slither?  How does a 
> ship slice through the waves?  
> How is it that people fall in love?  
> I hardly think that the "gliding-type 
> undulation" referred to above would 
> qualify as something beyond his 
> understanding, but matters of the 
> heart very well might.

Well, I think it comes down to the matter of a common
denominator between all the mentioned scenarios.  I
suppose the author had stared in wonder on many
occasions at eagles on wing, snakes making their ways
across rocks, ships moving through the waves...and
they all have in common a smooth rhythmic motion.  Now
I don't think our guy is clueless about the "birds and
the bees," I actually think he is *in awe* of the
whole deal.  That's what I think Dave, but...if it
seems too explicit an interpretation for you, please,
by all means, stick with yours.  Me, I kind of like
watching flying birds, undulating snakes, ships
rocking back 'n forth, ...and...  ;-)

B'SHALOM,
-- Michael Millier



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